so the drummer from Rush died and I heard some co-workers discussing greatest drummers of all time. No jazz drummers were mentioned though. I was wondering if it's just personal preference or if it's based on skill, technique, etc. A lot of all time greatest lists online seems to focus on only rock drummers. Can't help but feel like race comes into play also.
stravinskian Member since Feb 24th 2003 12698 posts
Fri Jan-10-20 08:14 PM
1. "People just don't know jazz drummers." In response to Reply # 0 Fri Jan-10-20 08:17 PM by stravinskian
Or jazz players in general. Or jazz. Marketing, stupidity, racism, anti-intellectualism, whatever. But yeah, race is a fulcrum for a lot of this, directly or indirectly.
I remember when Tony Williams died unexpectedly. It was a big deal in Downbeat. And he presumably got a NYTimes obit. But it, sadly, wasn't a cultural moment.
If you ask random people on the street who's the greatest saxophonist of all time, a lot more people would say Kenny G than Charlie Parker.